Last week, ABC’s airing of the 2026 NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs garnered record-breaking viewership, attracting an average of 20.6 million viewers on ABC and ESPN. Despite the high viewership of the basketball games, ABC’s morning show, “Good Morning America,” was unable to surpass NBC’s “Today” in overall viewership.

Nielsen reported that NBC’s “Today” averaged 3.06 million viewers for the week ending June 12, outperforming “GMA” which had 2.87 million viewers and “CBS Mornings” with 1.65 million viewers. Additionally, “Today” captured 682,000 viewers in the key 25-54 age demographic, compared to 486,000 for “GMA” and 264,000 for CBS.

Despite the NBA Finals providing a boost to “Good Morning America,” with a 6% increase in viewership from the previous week, “Today” also saw a 3% increase to maintain its lead. On the other hand, “CBS Mornings” experienced a decrease in viewership by 47,000 viewers compared to the prior week.

While big sporting events like the NBA Finals often positively impact other shows on the network, this was not the case for “Good Morning America.” In contrast, in 2022, “GMA” won more viewers overall during NBC’s coverage of the Winter Olympics, marking a significant achievement after more than three decades. However, “Today” continued to lead in the 25-54 age demographic, albeit by a narrow margin of 4,000 viewers.